Find the next useful conversation, not a reason to dismiss someone.

Start with your current offer and delivery capacity. For an organisational-development project, useful criteria might include a management problem within your expertise, access to the people affected and a realistic implementation window. Write what would make the work inappropriate as carefully as what would make it attractive.

Separate hard boundaries from things to clarify. A request outside your professional scope may warrant a polite decline or referral. An unclear budget may simply mean the buyer needs help defining the work. Do not disguise a preference for polished enquiries as an objective measure of seriousness.

Keep three routes visible: a discovery conversation, clarification before scheduling, and an honest explanation that you are not the right fit. Someone who is not ready this month may still benefit from a practical resource without being enrolled in ongoing marketing by default.

For each question, write down who will use the answer and what decision it changes. The GOV.UK form guidance calls for this kind of question protocol. It is useful discipline even though a consultancy enquiry is a different context from a public service application.

Ask about the situation in language a prospective client can answer: “What is happening in the team that you would like to change?” is more useful than asking for their preferred intervention model. Follow with the people involved, timing and the next decision they need to make. Explain why sensitive or commercially detailed information is unnecessary at this stage.

Make uncertainty answerable. Offer “not decided yet” where that is a genuine possibility and identify optional fields. A short choice can establish the route; a focused free-text question can add context. Do not demand a long essay as proof of commitment, especially from someone using a phone between meetings.

A useful rule can send a time-sensitive team enquiry to the appropriate reviewer. It cannot establish trust, diagnose the organisation or guarantee purchasing authority. Keep the underlying answers beside any score so an associate can understand the reason for a recommendation.

Distinguish a missing answer from a negative one. A budget marked “to be agreed” may need a scoping conversation; a known ceiling below the smallest appropriate engagement may need a different option. A point total that treats these as identical loses the very context you need.

Test combinations rather than individual fields alone. An enquiry might match your expertise but exceed current capacity. Another might have a modest budget yet fit a small diagnostic engagement. Define who can override a route and record a brief reason so the rules improve through review instead of becoming unexplained barriers.

When you invite someone to a call, tell them its purpose, expected length and what happens afterwards. An exploratory conversation is not a commitment to deliver a project or a promise of a proposal. Give them enough context to decide whether scheduling is worthwhile.

Send the reviewer a concise summary of the relevant answers and any unresolved questions. Avoid making the client repeat everything. Name an owner for clarification routes as well as booking routes; an unanswered clarification request is not a functioning process simply because it appears in the CRM.

If you decline, be specific and respectful without disclosing internal scoring. Where appropriate, explain the kind of support that would fit better. Do not invent a referral relationship or guarantee another provider can help. Keep any ongoing email invitation separate from responding to this enquiry.

Review a small sample of accepted, clarification and declined enquiries. Ask whether the route made sense when a human read the full context. Look for questions that produce vague answers, criteria that repeatedly need overrides and good-fit people who were sent away because they did not use your vocabulary.

Measure response time and unresolved enquiries as operational facts. Track later proposals and accepted work separately, with their actual definitions. A booked call is not a qualified opportunity, and an opportunity is not paid work. Avoid claiming that a new form caused revenue merely because those events occurred later.

Keep a dated version of the questions and rules. When you add a new offer or change capacity, review the criteria before changing the form. The process should reflect the work you can responsibly deliver now and make it straightforward to develop the next capability deliberately.